


Invisible Witness

by bobbiewickham



Series: X-ameron [10]
Category: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:20:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23389423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbiewickham/pseuds/bobbiewickham
Summary: Holmes and Watson discover a key and unlikely witness.
Series: X-ameron [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669762
Kudos: 8





	Invisible Witness

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from injygo on Tumblr for Holmes & Watson, talking to a small child.

“The neighbor said the street was empty when she arrived, an hour ago, to find the door open, and Mr. Gregory lying dead with a stiletto in his neck.”

Holmes was standing by the window, which had not been cleaned for some time. His striking features were illuminated by the dingy light. When he turned to me, he had the air of a raptor spotting its prey. “Empty, Watson, often simply means that those present are invisible.”

“Invisible? Don’t be cryptic. Say what you mean.”

Holmes smiles. “Observe, Watson, the yellow paper bag lying on the street by Mrs. Riker’s house.” He pointed across the street. “It is a very distinct yellow. It is manufactured by Frobisher’s Toffees, and it is extremely popular among small children. The paper bag appears fresh, untrampled and unruffled. Therefore, it has not been there long. Since arriving on the scene, Mrs. Riker stood on the stoop, waiting for us after she sent her son to fetch us. She swears she saw no one, of any class, anywhere on the street. She could not have failed to notice any person standing directly across from her. However, if an urchin had been standing there some time before she left her home, eating those toffees–”

“–then he may have seen the murderer fleeing.”

“And fled himself, rather than be observed by a dangerous killer. Observe how the paper bag has stayed still the entire time. It is weighted. It undoubtedly still has toffees in it. Our young lad abandoned his sweets and ran away. What child would do such a thing, if not for fear?”

And indeed, when we crossed the street to look at the bag, we saw that this was so.

“Where do you propose we find our urchin? He surely ran far from here.”

“Oh, no, I don’t think so,” Holmes said, looking around. With a gesture, he showed me a flattened bit of grass leading to a row of bushes. “If some child is hiding here in the bushes, he need not be afraid. He is in no trouble, and will be protected from all harm. We only wish to know what he saw.” Holmes spoke very loudly, and I heard a soft rustle of leaves as he did. We waited, but heard nothing more.

“It would be a brave thing for a child to come forward and bring a murderer to justice,” I said. “Anyone who did that would be a hero.”

Another pause, and then a larger rustle, and a little pixie with big saucer eyes and two brown braids hanging from her head emerged, looking at Holmes and myself as if she had seen no stranger creatures in her life. “Good afternoon, miss,” said Holmes. He gave her his most charming smile. “I am Sherlock Holmes and this is Dr. Watson. We are trying to catch a bad man.”

“My name is Annabelle Martin,” she squeaked, after a moment. “I live in the house behind this one.” She pointed.

I knelt in the grass next to her. “Can you help us, Annabelle?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I didn’t see any bad man. I only saw Mr. Pendlebury running from Mr. Gregory’s house. He lives down the street and he’s not a bad man. A bad man can’t live here like an ordinary person, can he? But he looked angry so I ran away.”

“Mr. Pendlebury,” Holmes repeated, slowly. “Can you point me to his house, Annabelle?”

She did so with alacrity, skipping to the street and pointing at a house at the end of the road. “Very good, Annabelle. Thank you.”

“You did exactly the right thing in running away and hiding,” I added. “You kept yourself safe.”

Annabelle blinked. “Can I go get my toffees now? I dropped them and was scared to go back and find them.”

“You can,” said Holmes, “and then Dr. Watson and I will walk you back to your home. And with your parents’ permission, I will arrange for Frobisher’s to send you a package of whatever toffees you like best, as payment for your help in a murder investigation.”

Annabelle grinned, and ran off to pick up her toffee bag.


End file.
